"As Mitt Romney continues to make gains in swing state polls in the wake of his dominant debate performance last week, it’s becoming increasingly possible that Americans could wake up on Nov. 7 to a 269-269 Electoral College tie. In such a case, Romney would almost surely win the presidency, according to analysis by the Washington Examiner.

Under the U.S. Constitution, in the event of an Electoral College tie, the presidential race is turned over to the House of Representatives (assuming no unexpected defections when the electors formally vote in December). And here’s the twist: Each state would get just one vote, based on what the majority of its own delegation decides. A candidate would thus need 26 votes to win.

In 1800, the last time this happened and state delegations split evenly in their House members’ choice of president, those states (Vermont and Maryland) cast blank ballots. (In that election, because the congressional and presidential inaugurations were held on the same day, the outgoing House chose the president instead of the incoming one. This would not happen today, because the new Congress is sworn in before the electoral votes are counted.)

The Washington Examiner took a detailed look at current House delegations and considered the range of realistic outcomes in this year’s Congressional elections, including changes due to reapportionment. By our estimates, Romney should have at least 26 states safely, with Obama having at least 13 and 11 states up in the air, pending the outcome of the Congressional elections."